Avaya Call Center Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) Guide

Transcription

1 Avaya Call Center Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) Guide Release 3.1 February 2006

2 2006 Avaya Inc. All Rights Reserved. Notice While reasonable efforts were made to ensure that the information in this document was complete and accurate at the time of printing, Avaya Inc. can assume no liability for any errors. Changes and corrections to the information in this document may be incorporated in future releases. Documentation disclaimer Avaya Inc. is not responsible for any modifications, additions, or deletions to the original published version of this documentation unless such modifications, additions, or deletions were performed by Avaya. Customer and/or End User agree to indemnify and hold harmless Avaya, Avaya's agents, servants and employees against all claims, lawsuits, demands and judgments arising out of, or in connection with, subsequent modifications, additions or deletions to this documentation to the extent made by the Customer or End User. Link disclaimer Avaya Inc. is not responsible for the contents or reliability of any linked Web sites referenced elsewhere within this documentation, and Avaya does not necessarily endorse the products, services, or information described or offered within them. We cannot guarantee that these links will work all of the time and we have no control over the availability of the linked pages. Warranty Avaya Inc. provides a limited warranty on this product. Refer to your sales agreement to establish the terms of the limited warranty. In addition, Avaya s standard warranty language, as well as information regarding support for this product, while under warranty, is available through the Avaya Support Web site: License USE OR INSTALLATION OF THE PRODUCT INDICATES THE END USER'S ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS SET FORTH HEREIN AND THE GENERAL LICENSE TERMS AVAILABLE ON THE AVAYA WEB SITE ("GENERAL LICENSE TERMS"). IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS, YOU MUST RETURN THE PRODUCT(S) TO THE POINT OF PURCHASE WITHIN TEN (10) DAYS OF DELIVERY FOR A REFUND OR CREDIT. Avaya grants End User a license within the scope of the license types described below. The applicable number of licenses and units of capacity for which the license is granted will be one (1), unless a different number of licenses or units of capacity is specified in the Documentation or other materials available to End User. "Designated Processor" means a single stand-alone computing device. "Server" means a Designated Processor that hosts a software application to be accessed by multiple users. "Software" means the computer programs in object code, originally licensed by Avaya and ultimately utilized by End User, whether as stand-alone Products or pre-installed on Hardware. "Hardware" means the standard hardware Products, originally sold by Avaya and ultimately utilized by End User. License Type(s) Concurrent User License (CU). End User may install and use the Software on multiple Designated Processors or one or more Servers, so long as only the licensed number of Units are accessing and using the Software at any given time. A "Unit" means the unit on which Avaya, at its sole discretion, bases the pricing of its licenses and can be, without limitation, an agent, port or user, an or voice mail account in the name of a person or corporate function (e.g., webmaster or helpdesk), or a directory entry in the administrative database utilized by the Product that permits one user to interface with the Software. Units may be linked to a specific, identified Server. Copyright Except where expressly stated otherwise, the Product is protected by copyright and other laws respecting proprietary rights. Unauthorized reproduction, transfer, and or use can be a criminal, as well as a civil, offense under the applicable law. Third-party Components Certain software programs or portions thereof included in the Product may contain software distributed under third party agreements ("Third Party Components"), which may contain terms that expand or limit rights to use certain portions of the Product ("Third Party Terms"). Information identifying Third Party Components and the Third Party Terms that apply to them is available on the Avaya Support Web site: Avaya fraud intervention If you suspect that you are being victimized by toll fraud and you need technical assistance or support, call Technical Service Center Toll Fraud Intervention Hotline at for the United States and Canada. For additional support telephone numbers, see the Avaya Support Web site: Trademarks Avaya is a registered trademark of Avaya Inc. All non-avaya trademarks are the property of their respective owners. COMPAS This document is also available from the COMPAS database. The COMPAS ID for this document is Avaya support Avaya provides a telephone number for you to use to report problems or to ask questions about your product. The support telephone number is in the United States. For additional support telephone numbers, see the Avaya Support Web site:

3 Contents Preface Purpose Audience Reasons for reissue Related documents Communication Manager administration documents Call Center documents Documentation Web sites Availability ACD basics Communication server features What a communication server does Trunks, trunk groups, and extensions Automatic-in processing Communication server attendant Direct inward dialing processing DID processing example What the ACD does About the ACD Things to know before you start Automatic-in processing of ACD calls Split queues Split queue call processing Announcements for calls in a split queue Answer supervision and abandoned calls Intraflow and interflow Night Service Distributing and handling calls About call distribution Call distribution methods without EAS Call distribution methods with EAS How agents handle calls ACD and call management systems - BCMS and Avaya CMS About BCMS About CMS ACD contact center features Abandoned Call Search About Abandoned Call Search Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February

4 Contents Administering abandoned call search Abandoned Call Search considerations ACD options by agent Description Reason to use How to administer Add/Remove Skills About Add/Remove Skills Forms and fields required for the Add/Remove Skills Add/Remove Skills feature considerations Interactions with other features and systems Agent Call Handling About Agent Call Handling Administering Agent Call Handling Communication server controls Agent Call Handling considerations Agent Call Handling interactions Auto-Available Split/Skill About AAS Administering AAS AAS detailed description AAS considerations AAS interactions Automatic Call Distribution About ACD Configuring a call center or contact center with EAS checklist Administering ACD ACD detailed description Avaya Business Advocate About Avaya Business Advocate Administering Avaya Business Advocate Call and agent selection Basic Call Management System About BCMS Administering BCMS BCMS interactions Best Service Routing About BSR Benefits of BSR BSR requirements Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February 2006

5 Contents Administering single-site BSR Administering multi-site BSR Administering BSR polling over IP without the B-channel Interactions for BSR polling over IP without the B-channel feature BSR detailed description Call surplus situations Agent surplus situations Vector commands for single-site BSR Vector commands for multi-site BSR BSR considerations BSR interactions Call Management System About CMS Administering the communication server-to-cms interface Enabling CMS measurements Measured extensions and multiple splits When assignments exceed capacity Assignments are not logins Measured trunks versus unmeasured facilities Considerations for administering the communication server-to-cms interface Call Prompting About Call Prompting Administering Call Prompting Call Prompting considerations Call Prompting interactions Call Vectoring About Call Vectoring Administering Call Vectoring Call Vectoring interactions Direct Agent Calling About DAC calling Administering DAC DAC considerations Direct Agent Call (DAC) interactions Expert Agent Selection About EAS Administering EAS Administering Direct Agent Announcement Detailed administration for EAS Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February

6 Contents Call handling preference administration EAS considerations EAS interactions Forced Agent Logout from ACW mode About Forced Agent Logout from ACW mode Reason to use Prerequisites Administering Forced Agent Logout from ACW mode Forced Agent Logout from ACW interactions Inbound Call Management About ICM Administering ICM ICM detailed description ICM considerations ICM interactions Information Forwarding About Information Forwarding Administering User-to-User Information transport Information Forwarding detailed description Administering the UUI IE station button Information Forwarding considerations Information Forwarding interactions Intraflow and Interflow About Intraflow About Interflow Administering Intraflow and Interflow Intraflow and Interflow detailed description Interflow and Intraflow considerations Interflow and Intraflow interactions Location Preference Distribution Description of Location Preference Distribution Reasons to use Prerequisites About location numbers Call-handling conditions How to administer Location Preference Distribution Local Preference Distribution interactions Look-Ahead Interflow About LAI Administering LAI Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February 2006

7 Contents LAI considerations Multiple Call Handling Administering MCH MCH applications MCH settings MCH considerations MCH interactions Network Call Redirection (NCR) Queue Status Indications About Queue Status Indications Administering Queue Status Indications Queue Status Indication detailed description Queue Status Indication interactions Reason codes About reason codes Administering reason codes Reason code detailed description Reason code considerations Reason code interactions Redirection on No Answer About RONA Administering RONA RONA detailed description RONA application examples RONA considerations RONA interactions Interactions with other ringing call timers Redirection on IP Failure ROIF description How ROIF works Administering ROIF ROIF considerations ROIF interactions Remote Logout of Agent Description of Remote Logout of Agent Reason to use Prerequisites Administering Remote Logout of Agent Locally logging out an agent Administering Remote Logout of Agent using a VDN Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February

8 Contents Remotely logging out an agent using the assigned VDN Remote Logout of Agent failures Remote Logout of Agent interactions Service Level Maximizer MAO Auto-reserve agents Service Observing About Service Observing Administering Service Observing Service Observing detailed description Service Observing indicators Service Observing considerations Service Observing interactions Universal Call ID About UCID How are UCIDs tracked? UCID interactions Administering the UCID feature UCID considerations Variables in Vectors VDN in a Coverage Path About VICP Administering VICP VICP considerations VICP interactions VDN of Origin Announcement About VOA Administering VOA VOA detailed description VOA considerations VOA interactions VDN Time Zone Offset Reason to use VDN Time Zone Offset Operation Interactions with other features Example of VDN Time Zone Offset How to administer VDN Time Zone Offset VDN Variables Reason to use Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February 2006

9 Contents Voice Response Integration About VRI Administering VRI VRI detailed description VRI interactions VuStats About VuStats Administering VuStats VuStats detailed description VuStats considerations VuStats interactions ACD call center switch forms Agent LoginID form Agent LoginID administration commands Agent LoginID screens Agent LoginID field descriptions List Agent-LoginID field descriptions Best Service Routing Application Plan BSR administration commands BSR application field descriptions BCMS/VuStats Login ID form About the BCMS/VuStats Login ID form BCMS/VuStats login ID administration commands BCMS/VuStats field descriptions Implementation notes Contact Center System parameters System Parameter administration commands EAS page field descriptions Field descriptions of Agent and Call Selection page Call Vector form Call Vector administration commands Field descriptions of Call Vector form Holiday Table form Holiday table administration commands Holiday Table form field descriptions Implementation notes for entering dates About administering a holiday table Hunt Group form About hunt groups Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February

10 Contents About the Hunt Group form Hunt Group form field descriptions Hunt Group administration commands Reason Code Names form Administration commands for the Reason Code Names form Reason Code Names field descriptions Call Classification form ASAI SCC operation How the call classifier is inserted How the call attempt is rejected About the SIT Treatment for Call Classification form SIT Treatment for Call Classification administration commands SIT Treatment for Call Classification field descriptions Vector Directory Number (VDN) form About VDNs VDN administration commands VDN form screens VDN field descriptions Implementation notes Vector Routing Table form About the Vector Routing Table Vector Routing Table administration commands Vector Routing Table field descriptions VuStats Display Format form About the VuStats Display Format form VuStats Display Format administration commands VuStats Display Format field descriptions List VuStats Display Format screen VuStats Display Formats field descriptions VuStats fields Implementing the Time of Day Clock Synchronization feature TOD synchronization methods Using NTP/SNTP to enable direct switch synchronization Scheduling Time Synchronization tasks through Avaya Site Administration. 354 Using NTP/SNTP to synchronize the switch to UTC time Using Avaya Site Administration to set up a TOD synchronization schedule Description Prerequisites Things to know before you set up a synchronization schedule Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February 2006

11 Contents Designing a TOD clock synchronization schedule Creating dedicated switch connections Setting up a TOD synchronization task schedule in Avaya Site Administration 364 About NTP/SNTP and Internet Time Servers Description of NTP/SNTP and Internet Time Servers SNTP on switch platforms that support direct synchronization Platforms that synchronize through an Avaya Site Administration client PC. 368 Setting up ACD offset times for CMS reporting About setting up ACD offset times for CMS reporting Offset procedure Appendix A: Recorded announcements Administering recorded announcements Recorded announcement types Analog line types DS1 types Auxiliary trunk types Integrated types When to use recorded announcements About barge-in Barge-in operational details Non-barge-in operational details Integrated announcements and announcements recorded on external devices. 377 Procedures for recording announcements About these procedures Recording the announcement Stop recording the announcement Playing back the announcement Deleting the announcement Recorded announcements with features Recorded announcements, the ACD, and other contact center features Recorded announcements and automatic wakeup Locally-sourced music and announcements Definitions About locally-sourced music and announcements About audio groups How the algorithm determines the most local source of an audio group Capabilities of locally-sourced music and announcements Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February

12 Contents Appendix B: Administering VRUs/IVRs as station ports Appendix C: Avaya CMS and Communication Manager compatibilities Appendix D: Avaya servers and gateways Avaya media servers Gateways Glossary Index Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February 2006

13 Preface This section contains the following topics: Purpose on page 13 Audience on page 13 Reasons for reissue on page 13 Related documents on page 14 Availability on page 16 Purpose This document explains the features that comprise the Call Center Automatic Call Distribution (ACD). It provides an introduction to each contact center feature and presents required forms for administration, detailed descriptions, considerations, and interactions between contact center features. This document provides an overall reference for planning, operating, and administering your ACD contact center. Audience This document is intended for communication server system administrators and managers, end-users interested in information about specific features, and Avaya support personnel responsible for planning, designing, configuring, selling, and supporting the system. Reasons for reissue The following features have been added to this document to support Release 3.1: Administration for up to 2000 call vectors New no-talk option for Service Observing New ringer-off control of auto-answer for non-acd calls Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February

14 Preface New callr-info display options New UUI IE station button Related documents You might find the following Avaya documentation useful. This section includes the following topics: Communication Manager administration documents on page 14 Call Center documents on page 15 Documentation Web sites on page 15 Communication Manager administration documents The primary audience for these documents consists of Communication Manager administrators who work for external customers and for Avaya s dealers. The satisfaction and needs of our external customers is the primary focus for the documentation. Administrator Guide for Avaya Communication Manager - Provides complete step-by-step procedures for administering the communication server, plus feature descriptions and reference information for administration screens and commands. Avaya Communication Manager ASAI Technical Reference - Provides detailed information regarding the Adjunct/Switch Application Interface (ASAI). Written for application designers responsible for building and programming custom applications and features. Avaya Communication Manager Basic Administration Quick Reference - Provides step-by-step procedures for performing basic communication server administration tasks. Includes managing phones, managing features, and routing outgoing calls. Avaya Communication Manager Advanced Administration Quick Reference - Provides step-by-step procedures for adding trunks, adding hunt groups, writing vectors and recording announcements. Avaya Communication Manager Basic Diagnostics Quick Reference - Provides step-by-step procedures for baselining your system, solving common problems, reading alarms and errors, using features to troubleshoot your system, and contacting Avaya. Feature Description and Implementation for Avaya Communication Manager- Provides feature descriptions and some implementation guidance for Avaya Communication Manager. 14 Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February 2006

15 Related documents Hardware Description and Reference for Avaya Communication Manager - Provides hardware descriptions, system parameters, lists of hardware required to use features, system configurations, and environmental requirements. Overview for Avaya Communication Manager - Provides a brief description of Avaya communication server features. Reports for Avaya Communication Manager - Provides detailed descriptions of the measurement, status, security, and recent change history reports available in the system and is intended for administrators who validate traffic reports and evaluate system performance. Includes corrective actions for potential problems. Call Center documents These documents are issued for Avaya Call Center applications. The intended audience is Call Center administrators. Avaya Call Center Change Description - Provides a high-level overview of the new features available for the most-current release. Avaya Call Center Call Vectoring and EAS Guide - Provides information on how to write, use, and troubleshoot vectors, which are command sequences that process telephone calls in an Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) environment. Avaya Communication Manager Call Center Software - Basic Call Management System (BCMS) Operations - Provides information on the use of the BCMS feature for ACD reporting. Avaya Business Advocate User Guide - Provides a general understanding of how Avaya Business Advocate can be used for call and agent selection. Documentation Web sites For product documentation for all Avaya products and related documentation, go to Additional information about new software or hardware updates will be contained in future issues of this book. New issues of this book will be placed on the Web site when available. Use the following Web sites to view related support documentation: Information about Avaya products and service Sun hardware documentation Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February

16 Preface Okidata printer documentation Informix documentation Tivoli Storage Manager documentation Availability Copies of this document are available from one or both of the following sources: Note: Note: Although there is no charge to download documents through the Avaya Web site, documents ordered from the Avaya Publications Center must be purchased. The Avaya online support Web site, The Avaya Publications Center, which you can contact by: Voice: (Toll-free, U.S. and Canada only) Fax: (Toll-free, U.S. and Canada only) Mail: GlobalWare Solutions 200 Ward Hill Avenue Haverhill, MA USA Attention: Avaya Account Manager 16 Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February 2006

17 ACD basics This section includes the following topics: Communication server features on page 17 What the ACD does on page 21 Split queues on page 22 Distributing and handling calls on page 30 ACD and call management systems - BCMS and Avaya CMS on page 42 Communication server features This section includes the following topics: What a communication server does on page 17 Trunks, trunk groups, and extensions on page 18 Automatic-in processing on page 18 Communication server attendant on page 19 Direct inward dialing processing on page 19 DID processing example on page 20 What a communication server does A communication server is an electronic device that processes incoming, outgoing, and internal calls and connects them to the proper destinations. The telephone company communication server in your local area is called a Central Office (CO). A communication server owned by a company or organization processes incoming, outgoing, and internal calls. Throughout this section, the term communication server is used to refer to a company or organization s communication server. Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February

18 ACD basics Trunks, trunk groups, and extensions Incoming calls to a company first pass through the CO. The CO sends calls to the company communication server over trunks. Trunks are telephone lines that carry calls between two servers, between a CO and a server, or between a CO and a phone. The CO receives dialed digits from the caller, processes the digits, and seizes a trunk that is assigned those digits. After the CO seizes a trunk, it sends a continuing transmission to the destination phone or communication server, and no other calls can be sent over that trunk until the current call disconnects. Since a trunk can carry only one call at a time, trunk groups are usually created. A trunk group is a group of trunks that are assigned to the same digits. With a trunk group, the CO receives the digits of a dialed phone number and checks the trunk group assigned to that number to see if any of the trunks are available. The CO then seizes an available trunk. As many simultaneous calls can be made over a trunk group as there are trunks in that trunk group. A trunk group, therefore, can carry multiple calls for the same phone number. When a trunk group carries incoming calls (that is, calls made outside the company s communication server location) to the communication server, the communication server then connects the calls to their proper destinations within the company. The communication servers previously listed, in addition to connecting incoming calls to the proper destinations, are also like private COs for company employees. Employee phones are connected to a communication server by telephone lines called extensions. Extensions are then assigned numbers, and these numbers become the employee phone numbers for internal (intra-company) calls. Automatic-in processing Automatic-in processing is one type of call processing. With automatic-in processing, the CO processes all of the digits of an incoming call. The CO then seizes a trunk from the trunk group, but since processing is complete, the call connects directly to a destination identified in the communication server software. That destination can be a phone, a queue (in which callers wait to be answered in the order in which their call was received), or special treatment like an announcement. 18 Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February 2006

19 Communication server features Communication server attendant Incoming calls can also go to a communication server attendant. A communication server attendant is a person who manually routes calls to their proper destinations using an attendant console. Normally an attendant serves as an internal operator who transfers calls to the proper extensions. Often, a communication server will have more than one attendant, and all of the communication server s attendants will answer calls directed to the attendant queue, which holds calls until an attendant is available. The attendant queue receives internal calls made from employee extensions, and also receives incoming calls through DID processing and automatic-in processing. Attendant call handling varies, depending on the company s needs. However, if the attendant has an automatic-in number, it will normally be the number published in the phone book, and the DID number will most likely be used by off-site employees who know only the attendant s extension number. Centralized Attendant Service (CAS) is a communication server feature that enables attendants to be consolidated at one private-network location. The attended location is called the CAS main and each unattended location is called a CAS branch. At branch locations, calls requiring attendant services route by way of Release Link Trunks to the main location. Direct inward dialing processing With Direct Inward Dialing (DID) processing, incoming trunks do not connect the CO directly to an employee s phone; instead, the incoming trunks are pooled by the communication server, and this pool of trunks is then shared by employee phones. Extension numbers may serve as the final digits of employee phone numbers for incoming calls. That is the CO may assign a 2-3- or 4- digit prefix to a trunk group. Then, when a 7-digit employee phone number is dialed, the call is processed as follows: 1. The CO processes the prefix of the dialed number, and then seizes a trunk in the trunk group that is assigned that prefix. 2. The CO passes the remaining digits of the dialed number to the communication server. 3. The communication server recognizes the remaining digits as an employee extension number and sends the call to that extension. Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February

20 ACD basics DID processing example As an example of DID processing, say that Employee A has the external phone number and the extension number Employee B has the phone number and the extension number The steps in completing calls to Employees A and B might be as follows: 1. Employee A s client dials The CO serving Employee A s company identifies the digits 538 (the common prefix for all phone numbers to that company) and seizes Trunk 1 in the trunk group assigned the digits The CO passes the digits 1000 to the communication server at Employee A s company. 4. The communication server identifies the digits 1000 as Employee A s extension number and sends the call to Employee A s extension. 5. Employee A s phone rings and Employee A answers. 6. Meanwhile, Employee B s client dials The CO identifies the digits 538 and seizes Trunk 2 in the trunk group assigned the digits The CO passes the digits 9999 to the communication server. 9. The communication server identifies the digits 9999 as Employee B s extension number and sends the call to Employee B s extension. 10. Employee B s phone rings and Employee B answers. While Employees A and B continue to talk, Trunks 1 and 2 in the 538 trunk group will not accept any more calls, so another call beginning with the digits 538 will seize yet another trunk in the trunk group. 20 Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February 2006

21 What the ACD does What the ACD does This section includes the following topics: About the ACD on page 21 Things to know before you start on page 21 Automatic-in processing of ACD calls on page 22 About the ACD Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) is a communication server software feature that processes high-volume incoming, outgoing, and internal calls and distributes them to groups of extensions called hunt groups or splits. The communication server also sends information about the operation of the ACD to the CMS which stores and formats the data and produces real-time and historical reports on ACD activity. ACD is used by a contact center to route incoming calls to specifically assigned splits/skills and agents. ACD allows a system administrator to create an efficient call management environment. This administrator can add or remove splits/skills from the system, add or remove announcements, add or remove agents, add trunk groups and route calls to the appropriate splits/skills. The administrator can also specify ACD measurement criteria and use an optional CMS package to provide reports on ACD efficiency. Things to know before you start A voice response port or a person who answers ACD calls is called an agent. Companies that operate high-volume call-answering centers, for example, a catalogue sales center, a reservations center, or a customer service center, use the ACD feature to process incoming calls and distribute them to agents. In addition to agents, each ACD split can be assigned a split supervisor. The split supervisor uses various communication server and CMS features to monitor split and agent performance and to provide assistance if necessary. Maintaining trunks from the CO to the communication server and hiring agents to answer calls costs money. However, if customers who call to purchase goods or services have difficulty reaching an agent and, therefore, stop trying to get through, the contact center loses revenue. Contact center management needs, therefore, to determine how many trunks and agents are necessary to minimize costs and maximize the ability of customers to purchase goods or services. Management can then set up and maintain the ACD accordingly. Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February

22 ACD basics Automatic-in processing of ACD calls Through communication server administration, each automatic-in trunk group is assigned to an ACD split. All calls that come in on an automatic-in trunk group are directed to the assigned split. Then the ACD software distributes the calls to the agent extensions assigned to the split according to the assigned call distribution method (described later). DID processing of ACD calls The communication server enables you to dial directly to various extensions such as a VDN, a hunt group, an agent, or a login ID. Each extension can be assigned to a split as a DID extension. For DID processing, trunk groups are not assigned to the split. The creation of associated extensions is sufficient to send calls arriving over DID trunk groups to the appropriate split. Each split can receive incoming calls through DID processing, automatic- in processing, or both. Automatic-in trunk groups carry calls only to the split, whereas DID trunk groups carry calls to any extension identified in the communication server software, not just a split. Split queues This section defines a split queue and explains how to set up call processing to a split. This section includes the following topics: Split queue call processing on page 22 Announcements for calls in a split queue on page 24 Answer supervision and abandoned calls on page 26 Intraflow and interflow on page 26 Night Service on page 29 Split queue call processing A split queue is a holding area for calls waiting to be answered, usually in the order in which they were received. When a call is put into queue, the caller may hear one or more delay announcements, music, and/or silence, depending on the treatment assigned for the split. (Treatment of calls in queue is assigned through communication server administration.) 22 Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February 2006

23 Split queues Things to know before you start Calls enter the queue at the bottom and move toward the top or head of the queue. After a call reaches the head of the queue, it connects to the next available agent. For communication servers with the Call Vectoring feature, all call treatment including routing, queuing, announcements, and music is specified by call vectors. When a call arrives at a split, the ACD software checks to see if an agent is available to handle the call. If an agent is not available, or busy, the call enters the split s queue. Calls queue only if no agents are available, a queue is assigned to the split, and the queue is not full. If the queue is full, the caller hears a busy tone or the call goes to coverage. If the split is vector controlled, then this step will fail. Furthermore, if no agents are logged into the split or if all agents are in AUX work mode (described later), calls do not queue. Priority and normal split queues Each split can have two queues: a normal queue and a priority queue. A split always has a normal queue and can also be assigned a priority queue. The ACD distributes all calls in the priority queue before it distributes any calls in the normal queue. Therefore, the priority queue, if one exists, must be empty before the ACD distributes calls in the normal queue. Priority queuing may be assigned in the Class of Restriction (COR) associated with the split extension number. A split may also be assigned Priority Queuing on Intraflow, which means that calls to that split, if rerouted to another local split, will enter the destination split s priority queue. Dynamic queue slot allocation Beginning with Communication Manager 2.1, Communication Manager dynamically allocates queue slots to hunt groups or skills. You no longer have to estimate and administer queue slots. The system dynamically allocates hunt group or skill queue slots on an as needed basis. When a queue slot resource is needed, it is extracted from a common pool. When the call is removed from queue, the queue slot resource is relinquished and returned to the common pool. There are enough queue slots to allow all possible calls to queue. Dynamic queue slot allocation has the following advantages: Reduced administration Expanded capacities, such as increased skill availability in your call center Elimination of lost or blocked calls when all queue slots are full Note: Note: You can limit the actual number of calls that can be queued for a specific hunt group by using the calls-queued conditional in the check split/skill if calls-queued or goto step/vector if calls-queued in split/ skill vector commands. Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February

24 ACD basics Use the Queue Limit field to specify the maximum number of calls that can be queued to the hunt group. For more information about this field, see Hunt Group form field descriptions on page 311. Announcements for calls in a split queue When a call enters a split queue, the caller hears ringing until the call is connected to an agent or an announcement. Depending on the treatment assigned to a split, the caller may hear one or two announcements, music, or silence. An announcement is a recorded message that provides information such as the destination the call has reached or a company s business hours, or it tries to persuade the caller to stay on the line. Things to know before you start Announcements and delay time are assigned to splits through communication server administration. Delay time is the amount of time a call will wait in queue before receiving an announcement. If a call connects to an agent before the delay time expires, the caller does not hear the announcement. If a call connects to an agent while an announcement is playing, the announcement stops. After the first announcement plays, the caller hears music or silence until the second announcement plays or the call connects to an agent. The type of caller feedback (music or silence) is also assigned to a split through communication server administration. For communication servers with the Call Vectoring feature, announcement capabilities are more flexible than those described in this section. See Call Vectoring on page 133. Related features The communication server supports both internal and external announcement devices. The announcement delay time can be from 0 to 99 seconds. A 0-second delay time causes a forced announcement, which means callers always hear the entire first announcement, whether an agent is available or not. A second announcement can be administered to recur each time the announcement delay time expires. Rules for announcements The announcement is played from beginning to end unless an agent becomes available. In such a case, the announcement is interrupted and (if manual answering operation is assigned to the agent, or if calls are delivered to the agent on a manual answering basis) ringback is provided. If the call is queued, the call remains as such while the announcement is played. Any feedback that is provided before an announcement (for example, a wait with music or ringback) continues until the announcement is played. 24 Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February 2006

25 Split queues Without vectoring - If an announcement queue is full, the system continues to try to connect the call to the proper announcement until the call connects to an agent, connects to an announcement, or enters the announcement queue. The following rules apply to announcements without vectoring implemented: Calls directly entering a split queue always receive a forced first announcement if assigned. The caller also hears first and second delay announcements if administered and delay intervals are met. Calls that reach a split by way of Call Coverage from another split (Intraflow) or a station do not receive a forced or delay first announcement at the destination split. The caller hears a second delay announcement if administered and the delay interval is met. Calls that reach a split by way of Call Forwarding from another split (Interflow) or station do receive delay first and second announcements if administered and the delay intervals are met. With vectoring - If the announcement s queue is full, the call retries the announcement step for an indefinite period of time before any new vector steps are processed. If an announcement command follows a failed adjunct routing command, the announcement is interrupted. If the adjunct routing command succeeds (that is, the communication server receives a destination from the ASAI adjunct), the announcement terminates immediately. The announcement command step is skipped, and vector processing continues at the next vector step, whenever any of the following conditions exist: Requested announcement is busied out, not available, or not administered. Integrated board is not installed. External aux trunk or analog equipment is not attached. Announcement queuing External and internal announcement units are available. The number of calls that can be queued to an announcement depends on the size of the communication server you have. The capacity tables in the System Description have details for each communication server model. Queuing for internal announcements is quite different. Internal announcements are delivered by a multi-port/channel announcement board, and a call receives an announcement only when it connects to one of the announcement ports or channels. Therefore, all calls wait in a single queue to access a channel on the announcement board regardless of the split announcement they are waiting to receive. The same announcement can be delivered over multiple channels. Announcements are delivered on demand, so a call that connects to a channel receives an announcement immediately and does not have to wait for the announcement to finish and start again. Avaya Call Center ACD Guide February